Utah State Volleyball Earns the Aggies' First Pac-12 Win

Utah State volleyball delivered the first Pac-12 victory by any Aggie team on September 26, 2026, beating Gonzaga 3-1 at the Wayne Estes Center in Logan. The Aggies lost the opening set 27-25, then took the next three 25-21, 25-17 and 25-14 in their first home conference match.

Utah State's official recap called it the "first-ever Pac-12 victory" for the department. It arrived two days after the volleyball team's Pac-12 opener, a 3-0 loss at Texas State. The quick turnaround put the Aggies at 1-1 in Pac-12 play.

Utah State changed the match in the second set

Gonzaga carried the first set 27-25 after both teams traded runs. Utah State erased multiple four-point deficits, helped by three blocks from junior middle blocker Ava Napierski, and briefly moved ahead, but the Bulldogs scored four of the final five points.

The second set became the pivot. Gonzaga built a 7-4 lead before Utah State answered with a 6-1 run. Graduate middle blocker Sophie Scott recorded two blocks during the stretch, and junior outside hitter Olivia Ruy contributed a kill and a block.

The Bulldogs later scored six straight points and again led by four. Utah State responded with seven of the next eight, including three Napierski kills. Gonzaga tied the set at 20, but Addy Cook and setter Silina Damuni put down consecutive kills. After one Gonzaga point, Utah State closed the set with three straight; Justyna Novakova's service ace finished the 25-21 win.

That sequence tied the match and gave Utah State control of the afternoon.

The third set turned on a 10-of-13 run

Gonzaga opened the third set in front, but Utah State took command with an 8-1 run. Cook supplied two kills while Scott and Damuni combined on back-to-back blocks. Gonzaga closed the gap and forced an Aggie timeout, then Utah State won 10 of the next 13 points.

Junior outside hitter Sami Blackett, Napierski and Ruy each recorded multiple kills during the decisive stretch. Utah State reached 22-14 before Napierski, Scott and Ruy added late kills to close a 25-17 set.

The fourth was more direct. Ruy opened with consecutive kills, Lily LaFlesch served an ace, and Utah State moved ahead 8-2. Two later 4-0 runs pushed the margin into double figures. Blackett, Cook and Napierski drove the first burst. LaFlesch added another ace in the second, and Napierski teamed with Blackett for a block.

Utah State's largest lead reached 11 points before the Aggies completed the match 25-14.

Four Aggies reached double figures in kills

Balance separated this win from Utah State's earlier matches. Four players reached at least 10 kills for the first time in 2026.

Ruy led the Aggies with 15. Blackett added 12, and Napierski and Cook finished with 11 each. Scott stopped one kill short of that group but hit .667, the best percentage on the team, with nine kills on 12 attempts.

Utah State hit .357 for the match, its best percentage of the season. The Aggies stayed above .300 in every set: .387 in the first, .370 in the second, .323 in the third and .351 in the fourth.

The first-set loss therefore was not an offensive collapse. Utah State hit .387 in that frame and still lost by two because Gonzaga hit .467. The Aggies sustained their efficiency while the Bulldogs' attack fell away in the next two sets. Gonzaga hit .200 in the second and .000 in the third, according to the official box score.

Ava Napierski supplied the cleanest individual line

Napierski's 11 kills were a career high. She hit .611 without an attack error on 18 swings, added six blocks, served an ace and collected three digs.

Scott matched Napierski with six blocks, and Utah State finished with a season-best 12. The block was not decoration around the offense; it repeatedly interrupted Gonzaga's early leads. Napierski was involved in three first-set blocks during Utah State's comeback, Scott recorded two during the second-set response, and Scott and Damuni combined twice in the third-set run that gave the Aggies control.

Damuni directed the balanced attack with 48 assists, tying her career high. She also established a career best with five kills, hit .400, and added four blocks and five digs. LaFlesch led Utah State with 12 digs and tied her season high with two aces.

Blackett's 12 kills came with seven digs, four assists, four blocks and an ace. Her contribution gave Utah State another complete line at the net and in transition while Ruy carried the highest kill total.

The first Pac-12 weekend ended with a home milestone

Utah State opened conference play at Texas State on September 24. The Aggies were swept 25-23, 25-20 and 25-23, even though Blackett recorded 15 kills and Damuni produced 38 assists and 14 digs.

The official Texas State recap showed how close the opener was. Utah State led the first set by as many as eight and the third by as many as five before the Bobcats rallied. The Aggies returned to Logan needing a finish, not a new identity.

Against Gonzaga, they found it after dropping another two-point opening set. They closed set two with three straight points, dominated the final half of set three, and never let Gonzaga back into set four.

Utah State entered the Gonzaga match 1-10 overall and left 2-10, but the conference line moved to 1-1. The overall record was still 2-10. The department's conference record had already changed.

What happened in the next two home matches

The home stand continued at the Wayne Estes Center. On October 1, Utah State beat Fresno State 3-1 (25-11, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21) for a second straight conference win. Blackett led the attack with 16 kills and added a season-high six blocks. The Aggies finished with 16 blocks, their most since August 2023, and held Fresno State to .080 hitting. Utah State moved to 3-10 and 2-1 in the Pac-12.

Colorado State, which Utah State Athletics called the Pac-12 preseason favorite, ended the run two days later. Utah State lost in five sets, 26-24, 23-25, 22-25, 25-17 and 12-15, despite 25 kills on .382 hitting from Ruy. Utah State outkilled Colorado State 67-52 and led in digs, 94-83. The loss left the Aggies 3-11 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

Key facts:

• Result: Utah State defeated Gonzaga 3-1 on September 26, 2026, at the Wayne Estes Center in Logan
• Set scores: 25-27, 25-21, 25-17, 25-14
• Conference marker: First Pac-12 victory by any Utah State team; volleyball moved to 1-1 in conference play
• Team figures: Season-high .357 hitting percentage and season-best 12 blocks
• Kill leaders: Olivia Ruy 15, Sami Blackett 12, Ava Napierski 11, Addy Cook 11
• Napierski: Career-high 11 kills, .611 hitting, zero attack errors and six blocks
• Setter line: Silina Damuni tied her career high with 48 assists and added a career-best five kills
• What followed: beat Fresno State 3-1 on October 1 (Blackett 16 kills, team 16 blocks), then lost 3-2 to Colorado State on October 3 (Ruy 25 kills) to sit 3-11 and 2-2 in the Pac-12